This park is a short distance from our house. Truly as their website says “a hidden gem surrounded by housing developments and major highways.” Here you can hike, fish, swim, canoe, kayak, camp, glamp, and see the Florida scrub-jay and bald eagles.

When I ride my bike on the Legacy Trail, a portion of the trail cuts through the park. I’ve seen bald eagles and scrub-jays several times while riding in this section but have not been inside the park.

Our goal is to experience the scrubby flatwoods by hiking one of the park’s seven trails. Hiking in this park is walking on a flat sandy or shell based path. There is also an easy paved trail that goes around Lake Osprey right by the Nature Center.

We decide to take the Green Trail, it’s sandy with some shells cut through the scrubby flatwoods. The trails are well marked with colored arrows.

You have to cross the South Creek bridge, walk through one of the campgrounds filled with RVs and finally out in the open.

Our fun for the day is looking closely at the different plants in this scrubby flatwood. Tall pines, short palms, pine seedlings, flowering plants, and many grasses. We can see the bald eagles in the distance flying high in the sky and I spotted two scrub-jays. No other birds, animals or snakes were seen.

Steve has an app on his phone that identifies plants. Very helpful for these next pictures!

This is the perfect time of year to experience this park. With the cool weather, the bugs are minimal, the sun is not intense and you have trails almost all to yourself. Quite enjoyable way to spend a few hours!